We don't have to look far: almost the entire OSS movement is driven by purpose, not money. Sure, money _can_ be made afterwards if one so desires (cf RedHat), but it's not the primary motivator (in most cases). I wonder if any academics have done studies on the OSS movement and what drives the contributors.
In this paper, I study the workings of several successful Internet-based collaborative communities to identify what it is that enables them to succeed, even thrive, despite the highly-dispersed nature of their collaboration. This research reveals that while the practices and tools used by the referenced communities are important to their success, the most critical difference lies much deeper, in the economic-basis of their
organizational structure. This economic mode of production, described by Yochai Benkler as “commons-based peer-production”, is studied to answer two key questions: First, does this economic model, in itself, encourage more successful virtual teamwork? Second, is the peer-production model of collaboration fundamentally tied to the open source model or can it also be applied in a commercial context to create proprietary products?
A key source for the paper was "Coase's Penguin, or Linux and the Nature of the Firm" by Yochai Benkler.
Most people do OSS to pad or establish their résumés or increase their professional profile. Additionally, most of the high profile OSS projects now have massive commercial support.
Comments
We don't have to look far: almost the entire OSS movement is driven by purpose, not money. Sure, money _can_ be made afterwards if one so desires (cf RedHat), but it's not the primary motivator (in most cases). I wonder if any academics have done studies on the OSS movement and what drives the contributors.
Actually, this was the topic of my thesis for my Master's degree.
Link: http://flowdelic.com/2005/03/03/learning-from-open-source/
Abstract:
In this paper, I study the workings of several successful Internet-based collaborative communities to identify what it is that enables them to succeed, even thrive, despite the highly-dispersed nature of their collaboration. This research reveals that while the practices and tools used by the referenced communities are important to their success, the most critical difference lies much deeper, in the economic-basis of their organizational structure. This economic mode of production, described by Yochai Benkler as “commons-based peer-production”, is studied to answer two key questions: First, does this economic model, in itself, encourage more successful virtual teamwork? Second, is the peer-production model of collaboration fundamentally tied to the open source model or can it also be applied in a commercial context to create proprietary products?
A key source for the paper was "Coase's Penguin, or Linux and the Nature of the Firm" by Yochai Benkler.
Link: http://www.benkler.org/CoasesPenguin.html
In this paper Benkler describes a mathematical model for human motivation, which accounts for influence of money. Highly recommended read.
Edit: fixed name typo
Most people do OSS to pad or establish their résumés or increase their professional profile. Additionally, most of the high profile OSS projects now have massive commercial support.